It Looks Like This!
Yesterday, just before I left school, some 1st-grader I didn't know came dashing down the hall and handed me a flower basket. I assumed he had stole it from somewhere, considering that he ran up and ran away in such a dash. I found the room where some 1st-graders had been cutting flowers and discovered many more such pretty arrangements.
I returned the flowers, but apparently they were for me, because I got this basket today, with no note of explanation. Also, quick reconnaissance reveals that I am the only person in the 1st-floor office to get flowers. So. Is it for female teachers of 1st-grade students only? I know not, but I love the flowers. Wish I knew who to thank for them.
And in the foreground of the shot, you'll see a little clear lump encased in plastic. It is this:
A Baby Shoe Made of Soap.
This one is a present from the special needs kids, from yesterday's soap-making adventure. I went over and thanked their teacher, telling her how pretty I thought it was.
2-1, 2-2 A was grand. I thought I'd let them watch a movie, but Byeonghyun said he'd rather play games and the other kids agreed, so we played the icon game, then Cat Mario. I was so glad to get to talk to Byeonghyun!!! I miss him so very much, and Seongmo almost equally so. While Seongmo was going around the room at the beginning of class, sweeping up, I patted his head and we had this dialogue:
Seongmo: Like a dog?
Me: No, a head-pat like a...like a child!
Seongmo: No, no. *mournful*
Me: Ah, you don't want to be a puppy, do you?
Seongmo: No, Teacher, I am a human. *grief*All done in a tone of overblown angst of course--Seongmo's a born comedian and he likes to joke about me abusing him. He and Byeonghyun got very upset when I called my favorite little Artist-Joohyun "Joohyunnie". When I called him up to help me, they started mocking: "Joohyunnie, Joohyunnie...Joohyunnie Joah! Ni modeun gosi joah!" Neatly tying together two things they love to tease me about--my song from the school festival, and my supposed habit of favoring other students above them. Singing the phrase the way they did, it means "I like everything about Joohyun".
Team 1 with Byeonghyun was so genius, I had to keep giving Team 2 extra opportunities, and of course Seongmo took exception to that:
Seongmo: Teacher, why you always look at Team 2, let them answer? Look at us, let us answer.
Me: Because Euigi is my favorite.
Euigi and Kyeongbae took turns playing Cat Mario and the whole room yelled at them mercilessly, and it was beautiful. I gave chocolate to everyone who bothered to speak to me and tell me what they wanted for Christmas, but HH just tried to steal one directly out of the bag while we were talking. He's gotten so entitled, lately. Thinks he owns the world and all the chocolate therein.
1-9, 1-10 B was good. I thought I'd play a movie for them, so I brought along Monopoly. But they wanted to play the icon game, so we did that instead. At the end, while Seonghoon and crew were playing Cat Mario on my computer, I sat in the back and played Monopoly with Woohyuk, Seonghyun, Yooseok, Deokryong, and Yunho.
During class, Seonghoonie had actually swiped my Monopoly game while I was trying to engage the class, and he took it to the back and began to set it up, but I got it back from them and packed it up. I explained quietly in Korean that I was disappointed and sad, and they apologized. Seonghoonie looked stricken, but I got to hug him later, so he knew things were fine. Also gave Beomjoon and Yunho sips of water from my bottle, so they know they're extra-loved.
Was stopped by Seonwoo, Jeonghee, Soohyun, Minjoon, Yoonseong, and Hyungro and Changyeon, all wanting chocolate. They are all too darling for words.
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2:45 PM All is well. Went to 2-5, 2-6 B and just played them a movie while I did Monopoly with Taekyoon, Kangjae, and Not-My-Wooseok (he is a Wooseok, but much less crazy than my favorite Wooseok). Twin-Jeongho was our banker. We had a great game and I was so happy to be bonding with them, especially with Kangjae who I quite like even though he has a reputation for being trouble. Dongjin and Seongsu were absent and I missed them.
At lunch I sat with KBR-Teacher, who told me she liked the Cat Mario game I'd introduced to the boys. She and I had a great conversation and we talked a bit about Danhee and Jinbong, two of her homeroom students who get into a lot of trouble but who are really lovable. She says they're getting better over time, and that many students who make trouble have serious problems at home.
After lunch, Saturday Jeongmin was waiting for me. He said he had gotten me a nice paper bag and left it on my desk because he saw it and it reminded him of me, "because it's beautiful".
My New Bag.
And I bought Christmas lights for my desk and hung them! Jeongminnie helped me get them taped up. They are muliticolored, they flicker on and off, and mere photos cannot capture their festive exuberance.
Pictured: Festivity.
Yeonghyo, Jaehwan, Jinhwan and crew came to get me for Monopoly, but they had brought Inhak and wanted to play by themselves, just the four of them, with Juseong as banker. I was a little tired, so I was cool with that so long as I could be in the same room to keep an eye on the game. My-Wooseok immediately asked if I wanted to move to the adjacent table and play One Card.
I had heard that One Card was like UNO but played with a regular deck of cards, and it's similar but has a few variations. You can lay down cards to match the suit or the number of the card that's already face -up. Jokers make the next person draw ten cards, Jacks are "jump" cards that skip a player, and Queens reverse direction. Kings and Aces also seem to do something, though I can't figure out what, and you can play combos like spade-spade-spade or 7-7-7.
First it was just me and Wooseok, then Beyongkeun and Juseong got in on the game while Daesung sat by me and helped me figure out which cards to play. Byeongkeun waltzed into the room and greeted me with a "Hi Leigh!" I corrected him with, "Leigh Teacher," but Byeongkeun said angelically, "No, Leigh is my friend. I am twenty. We friend." He does still call me Sem when talking to the other boys, but in his heart, I am his buddy.
Also in the room was Heechan, who can't go for three sentences without flirting. He says "I love you" like most people say "Um...": with great frequency, as he is thinking of other things to say. In English he told me, "Feel my soul." I nodded and said, "Oh that sounds cool," because I didn't know what he meant, but nothing is worse for a boy than saying something in English and getting a quizzical glance or no response at all.
Heechan knew I hadn't fully gotten the message because he went to the Monopoly table to ask the other boys for a better way to phrase it. But he was asking a table full of C-ban boys, so verbal options are going to be limited there. He came back and re-phrased it: "Feel my heart." And he mimed holding a still-beating heart in his hand. Byeongkeun helpfully added, "His heart 샘 한테" meaning "his heart is being given to you as a present". I thanked Heechan for his heart and kept on playing One Card.
Byeongkeun and Heechan also started asking about the difference between the Korean word for kiss (뽀뽀) and the English word, because there are slight differences in meaning and implication, but I was suddenly too absorbed in played a diamond-diamond combo to translate it for them. Heechan asked in English if I liked music, then invited me over to his house for dinner, to prove that he's a classy and upstanding guy, not just some kid who can't fathom my interests.
But Wooseok was the star of the card game. He was in his element, bossing everybody around (he's the only 2nd-grader in a room full of 3rd-graders), but under the guise of respecting them. It's terribly cute to hear Wooseok calling everybody 형(hyung) or "big brother". He asks for advice as a way of getting things to go his way, and he loooooves teaching me things. Nothing is better than explaining the rules to Sem in simple Korean, then patiently re-explaining them and and rearranging the cards in her hand when she just doesn't get it.
Wooseok doesn't like being overlooked either, and he would tug my hand to bring my attention back to the game when I talked to the older boys for too long. He also, for some reason, reached out to hold my nose for a second. My nose. He didn't pull it, but he just wanted to hold it for a moment, apparently. Wooseok's been fascinated by my nose for well over a month, and he just couldn't resist any longer.
When the games were over, Wooseok walked around to rest his hands on the shoulders of my puffy coat as I packed things up, which reminded me a lot of my youngest brother. He wants to establish his importance: the other kids might be filing out of the room, but he has the right to hang around for that last 30 seconds with me because he is Special. Then he took the Monopoly money and gave it back to me one bill at a time, milking every last second from the interaction. This infuriating kid has carved out his own little place in my heart, and he knows it.
While walking home from school, Dongyoon told me that his friend was ugly and I said no, his friend was cute, as I usually do. We need positive reinforcement whenever we can get it! You never know when a kind word is going to land.
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